Obama Drama

Barack Obama attended the 11th International Symposium on Coral Reefs and here is proof: him sandwiched between two top ocean scientists and proponents of the term 'shifting baselines': Daniel Pauly and Jeremy Jackson.

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Okay, okay. So he is a cardboard cutout. I purchased him back in Ohio to ruffle the feathers in my Republican hearth and thought he might come in handy at the conference. Some in attendance had a different perspective, though, and as I walked into one of the upstairs rooms (where I had set Obama up off to side), he was being carted off by organizers who said they received complaints. I had to run after them to rescue him. I assured them Obama wouldn't say anything. I just thought it would be good to have him listening in on some of the ideas being presented: such as increased protection for the Florida Keys, stricter regulations on fishing (including spearfishing), and strong commitment to climate change mitigation.

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I am here in Ft. Lauderdale at the 11th International Coral Reefs Symposium, which only happens once every four years. It's a big deal and more than 3000 scientists have gathered to discuss coral reefs for the week. The news for coral reefs, as you might suspect, is grim (one scientist described…
I know that the year is far from over, but Loren McClenachan, who works with Jeremy Jackson at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has what I believe is the shifting baselines story of 2009. Just to review from the old shifting baselines days, the shifting baselines syndrome implies that…
Jeremy Jackson calls it "The Rise of Slime". Daniel Pauly sees a future in jellyfish burgers. And given that this week is the 2nd International Jellyfish Bloom Symposium--where D. Pauly will deliver the keynote address (having not been able to attend the 1st symposium in Alabama in 2002)--it…
Photo by Dr. William Precht. A recent study published in Science Express by Dr. Kent Carpenter of Old Dominion University and a consortium of nearly thirty coral reef ecologists has determined that one-third of coral face increased extinction threat due to climate change and local anthropogenic…

Jennifer, we'd love to have any presidential thoughts you might have for either candidate over at our "Dear Mr. President" slot at blogfish. Just in case you have any ideas, of course..